Concord, NC (June 4, 2008) – As the first half of the NASCAR season begins to wind down, Mike Wallace and the GEICO Racing team find themselves in a good place. The driver is sitting 9th in the point standings and is coming off a string of good runs, which most recently included his 8th place finish at Dover last weekend.
Sure, it would be easy to point out that Wallace and the #7 GEICO Camry finished 25th at Darlington and 22nd at Charlotte, however it would not be indicative of his actual performance. In Darlington, he was sitting in position to record a Top 5 finish before a melee under a green, white, checker finish found the GEICO Camry more resembling a pinball than a race car. Charlotte would be more of the same story. While the finishes were less than desirable, Wallace ran both of those races solidly around the Top 10, even in the Top 5 at Darlington, before disappointment set in on the final laps.
“We’ve worked really hard to run well every week and put ourselves in position to win races, and I feel as though we’ve been successful at that,” Wallace said from his North Carolina home. “This Germain Racing team has worked really hard week in and week out to prepare the #7 GEICO Camry and I think you can see that it’s really paying off. We’re showing what the driver and team can do and we will continue to do it until we’re all standing in Victory Lane.”
Next up for the Gecko? Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday Night. 7:00 p.m. Eastern, on ESPN2.
History shows Dennis Setzer (No. 18 BHR-V Dodge) as the only North Carolina-born driver to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Charlotte.
Setzer, from Newton, N.C., won in 2004 and is the only Tar Heel winner in NASCAR national series points competition at Lowe's Motor Speedway since Dale Jarrett's UAW-GM Quality 500 victory in 1997.
That's a far cry from earlier eras when names like Petty, Baker, Parsons and Earnhardt dominated.
The birth of the Craftsman Truck Series in 1995 aided the rush of non-southern and off-oval competitors into the sport. Only one champion -- the late Bobby Hamilton -- was born south of the Mason-Dixon line.
" DAYTONA BEACH -- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Dennis Setzer came to NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing on the red eye. It wasn't an early-morning flight that had Setzer's eyes red -- Setzer actually got up at 4 a.m. Saturday to drive here from North Carolina. It was because of the emotions of leaving behind his ailing mother. The 11th-hour commute was necessitated by the illness of Tommie Setzer, who suffered a stroke Wednesday night during emergency surgery for kidney stones.
"I've been with her all day and all night, and her mind's very good right now. The next couple of days are really critical, but there's no decline and she's doing OK," Setzer said. "Her left-side motor skills are paralyzed right now and we'll see how that comes back. We don't know how much the recovery will be or how long the term will be."
He contemplated not coming to the test, but it was at his mother's urging that he finely decided to come.
"She told me, 'You've got a job to do. You go do it,' " Setzer said. "Being here may make it easier on her because she's not there worrying about me having a job to do."
The test in Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia's No. 18 Dodge is a new start for Setzer, a winner of 17 truck races during the last decade.
"(Wood Brothers Racing) wanted (Ken) Schrader in the 21 car because they were back in the top 35 in points, and we had looked at Dennis the year before," BHR-V co-owner Lori Hamilton said. "Dennis and (crew chief) Jeff White just clicked and it was just a carryover from what he and Schrader had started."
"We've got some great racers behind this deal," Setzer said. "They're doing everything for BHR-Virginia." "
The Colorado license plate gives away the final destination. Other transporters leave the racetrack and head east on the Interstate, toward North Carolina and the hub of NASCAR nation. But the brown and black truck turns west, on the lonely road toward the only Nextel Cup shop nestled on the front range of the Rocky Mountains.
Furniture Row is owned by Barney Visser, a Denver-based businessman who has fielded cars on NASCAR's top circuit since 2005. The attempt to go full-time has been a difficult one, with the team making just 10 events this season. The organization split with driver Kenny Wallace after the Aug. 12 race at Watkins Glen, failed to make Michigan with Scott Wimmer in the seat, and will have Sterling Marlin in the No. 78 car for this weekend's event at Bristol.
"The common thought is, there are a lot of negative things, maybe all negative things, about being out in that area. What we're finding is, there are some positives," Team Manager Joe Garone said. "Once you have your people, and whether you train them or whether you hire them, once they're there, they're more apt to be focused more on their program. They don't have any race teams there to be interrupting their work or their thought process.
"We've gotten some people from some big organizations to come here, and they were in the same boat that I was -- tired of being in the rat race in Mooresville, where people are jumping ship all the time and all that," Crew Chief Jay Guy said. "This is kind of refreshing, because there are no other race teams around here on this level. You can work on a lot of projects and keep secrets that will help the car go fast from getting out by lunchtime."
They rave about the skiing, and the landscape, and the fact that you don't bump into employees from other shops in line at the grocery store. But the distance clearly presents hurdles, most of them logistical for a team much father removed from eastern races than its competitors. Cars are prepared not two weeks out, but four weeks. Parts have to be ordered a week earlier than they would be for a team based near Charlotte, where many of the sport's vendors are located as well. Cars have to be loaded a day earlier on the transporters, which have to depart the race shop a day earlier than their eastern counterparts.
"The location is not a problem at all, because we have both trucks running up and down the road," Guy said. "You just have to have enough good people in place to where your stuff is done a little ahead of everybody else. Anywhere from like Texas west, we're a lot closer than anybody else."
"Some people, and I've found this surprising, would rather live in Denver than in North Carolina. A lot of skiers and a lot of people who like that dry air. It's not been a bad deal."
"Obviously, you want to compete to run up front," Guy said. "But you've got to be realistic with your goals. Lately, we've fallen short on our goals in qualifying, and haven't really been able to work on anything race-related. But we've got a seven-post shaker machine installed [in Denver], and we're working on that a little better, the guys in the engine shop are working harder and harder to get us more horsepower.
Mike drives the No. 7 GEICO Chevy in the NASCAR Busch Series. Mike brought the #7 GEICO Chevy home in the 15th position last Saturday in Texas. All in all it was a good points day. The team continues to be in 9th position in the Busch series season points. Currently he is third in points among "Busch Guys." Mike also drives part time in multiple other vehicles and series, including the No. 09 Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts Chevy in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the No. 46 Morgan-Dollar Motorsports Chevy in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Chrissy Wallace has raced many different cars and series in her early career, including a Pro Challenge, a Legends car, a Roadster, a late model and others. Recently, Chrissy also tackled another type of car, wheeling the No. 96 Kat Country Arena Racing USA car.
In 2006, Matt Wallace drove the #4 Lucas Oil Bandolero at race tracks in North Carolina. Matt is the son of NASCAR driver Mike Wallace, and brother to race car driver Chrissy Wallace.
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